Dog Can't Make It To Wedding, So Bride's Dad Surprises Her With This Instead

Hillary Bowles and her dog, Leo, have always been inseparable — so, when circumstances made it pretty much impossible for him to attend her destination wedding earlier this month, it's fair to say she was more than a little disappointed.

"We REALLY wanted him to be there," Bowles told The Dodo. "[But] he would have had to fly down — and be boarded most of the time where he didn't know anyone ... and we were leaving for our honeymoon directly after."

But, it turns out, Leo was able to be there on her big day after all. Well, in a sense, anyway.

Before heading to the wedding site out of state, Bowles dropped Leo off at her parents' place. Her dad had arranged for Leo to stay in a doggy resort while they were away; he took the dog there before beginning the long trip himself — but he also had a secret plan to bring Leo along after all, and in more than just spirit.

Fortunately, it won't be long before the newlyweds reunite with the real Leo — but the bond they share with him means they were never really too far apart. Bowles' father's gesture was really just a way of visualizing that.

"I loved it!" she said. "It meant a lot that my dad went out of his way to do that for me."